c28 – Puzzling Intelligence
The next day, before dawn had even fully broken over the horizon, Yamato suddenly opened his eyes. The information transmitted back from his Mokuton Wood Clone was unusually urgent. As an ANBU-trained shinobi, his body remained half-alert even in sleep, so he immediately moved to wake Naruto and the others. Naruto, trained through countless missions during the Fourth Shinobi War and having long grown used to sudden alerts, sat up instantly. Yamato lowered his voice and said, "I just received intel from the Wood Clone. A large number of shinobi from the Moon Country's Ninja Village have begun to mobilize. But the strange thing is their heading isn't toward Konohagakure at all. Their route is clearly angled toward the Land of Lightning."
Naruto frowned and replied, "Let's not hesitate. We follow immediately. But we keep distance—no letting them sense us. If they've got sensory-types, we'll need to stay extra careful." As they moved, Naruto kept replaying the intel in his head. Something didn't add up. If the Moon Country truly intended to participate in an attack, then launching directly across the sea toward the Land of Fire would be more efficient. Historically, in the manga, even the Fourth Raikage A, known for his strategic decisiveness and overwhelming force, relied heavily on direct strikes and overwhelming speed. Using a small, peripheral country as a middleman contradicted his usual methods.
Naruto muttered privately: "If they intended to cooperate with Kumogakure, they could have moved covertly by sea or met directly at a neutral point. Why waste time marching overland to Lightning, when attacking from the Moon Country is faster? Raikage A isn't the type to complicate simple strategies." But every observable fact contradicted the logic. The Moon Country ninjas were indeed traveling inland, straight into the Lightning Region. "Unless…" Naruto thought, "the Raikage's real objective isn't Konoha at all, but something else entirely."
By the time Yamato and the team reached the borders of the Land of Lightning, they realized the Moon Country squad bypassed the main road to Kumogakure. Instead, they diverted to a remote coastal settlement one Naruto recognized from the manga's map references as a minor fishing and trading town far from the heavily fortified Cloud Village. Such border towns typically lacked strong shinobi defenses; even during the Fourth Shinobi War, Kumogakure didn't station many troops at these fringe areas. Yamato used Mokuton to mask their presence, and they slipped in unnoticed.
Days passed with no obvious development. Naruto began to doubt whether trailing them had been worthwhile. Perhaps this troop didn't carry the crucial intelligence Yamato suspected. But everything changed when, under the silent observation of Yamato's Wood Clone, a familiar figure appeared a shinobi with the 雷 ("Lightning") insignia carved on his shoulder armor. His mannerisms and characteristic slanted eyes made him unmistakable. It was Darui, the right-hand man of the Fourth Raikage, a future Fifth Raikage himself. His appearance here meant only one thing: this operation involved top-tier Kumogakure command. If Raikage A sent Darui personally, it signaled a mission of exceptional importance.
Darui did not arrive alone. Several Kumogakure jonin accompanied him, and among them Naruto sensed faint fluctuations consistent with sensor-type shinobi, similar to C-type sensors from the war arc. This forced the group to stop all close surveillance and maintain a broader observational perimeter, only keeping track of the general flow of movements. At first, nothing seemed unusual beyond the gradual buildup of personnel. More and more shinobi from both the Moon Country and Kumogakure quietly entered the town under cover of night.
Three days later, before sunrise, everything shifted. A coordinated movement began large numbers of ninjas headed for the nearby port. But the most startling discovery was that the ships waiting at the docks were not bound for the Moon Country's seas. Judging by the direction and the old naval routes charted in the manga, the ships were clearly set to sail toward the Land of Water.
Naruto felt shock ripple through him. "The Mist? Why would Kiri be the next destination? Are Kirigakure and Kumogakure planning something together?" But the idea didn't align with known political tensions. Since the Fourth Mizukage era's dissolution of the Bloody Mist policies, Kirigakure rarely acted rashly, especially under the leadership of the Fifth Mizukage Terumi Mei. If Kumo wanted to cooperate with Kiri for an attack, they could have directly sent envoys or forces to Kirigakure's main port and moved jointly. And large nations didn't need involvement from the Moon Country at all their combined power already rivaled any single nation. Using the Moon Country as an intermediary made no strategic sense.
These layers of contradictions left Naruto with nothing but confusion. Yamato and the others were equally uncertain, unable to piece together the true objective behind this covert mobilization. Every clue only deepened the mystery.
Something far more complex than a simple alliance or attack was unfolding something that neither Naruto nor Yamato could yet decipher.
However, Naruto was the captain of this operation, and at this moment only the captain had the authority to make the final call. After re-examining all the clues gathered from Yamato's Wood Clone and from their own tracking, Naruto decided that the most important move was to continue monitoring the shinobi departing from the port. Making use of the pre-dawn darkness and the lack of patrols, Naruto and the other three members quietly slipped away from the populated area and moved to an unobserved corner of the coastline. There, using the same underwater infiltration tactics Naruto had used during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the group dove beneath the waves and swam toward the direction of the Land of Water. Only when they were far enough from the shore far beyond the range at which ordinary sentries or sensory-type shinobi could reasonably notice disturbances did they surface. Even if anyone spotted movement that far out, they would most likely dismiss it as fishermen or sea animals. After all, the Lightning Country's coast was known for unpredictable currents and misty horizons.
Once they judged they were at a safe distance, Naruto asked Yamato to use Mokuton – Wood Release: Transformation Construction to assemble a small but sturdy wooden vessel. Yamato shaped it to resemble a merchant boat from the Land of Lightning, complete with the characteristic hull markings that Kumogakure vessels used during peacetime transport. When the boat was ready, Naruto began using bursts of Suiton (Water Release) propulsion, pushing the vessel forward just enough to imitate natural sailing while rapidly closing the distance to the ship ahead.
Soon, the outline of the large ship became clear. The shinobi aboard noticed a vessel with the markings of the Lightning Country approaching, but because Lightning ships required Raikage authorization to enter or exit the port, the sight did not raise alarms. However, Naruto was not satisfied with mere surface observation. Using the sharp perception honed during his years as Hokage-in-training and his Sage Mode sensitivity even though he did not activate Sage Mode here he observed every forehead protector visible on deck. What he found immediately struck him as odd. There were only a few Kumogakure shinobi aboard, and the number of Moon Country ninjas was almost the same as before. No new high-ranking members had boarded. More importantly, Darui the elite jonin and right-hand man of the Fourth Raikage was nowhere in sight. The distribution of chakra signatures felt small and ordinary; no overwhelmingly strong presences, no battle-hardened veterans like Cee or Omoi, and no sensory-ninja whose range could rival the Yamanaka clan.
According to Naruto's previous reasoning, if the Raikage and Mizukage were preparing a joint operation, then Raikage A would have sent an elite unit at minimum a three-man squad of jonin to Kirigakure first, before any real offensive against Konoha. But all evidence contradicted that. The Kumogakure force present was small, ordinary, and inconsistent with any large-scale coordinated war effort. Even the number of Moon Country ninjas didn't match the scale expected for a political or military summit. From every angle, these irregularities only deepened the mystery, and Naruto felt something was being overlooked.
Then, suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind a deduction so clear and sudden that it made him stop breathing for a moment. "Yes… that must be it." Without hesitation, Naruto turned sharply toward the three behind him. "Yamato! Use Suiton with me, we need to accelerate this boat immediately. Xuanguang and Liuying, grab the oars and row with everything you've got. We need to get ahead of their ship as fast as possible!"
"Understood, Captain!" All three responded in unison. Yamato instantly switched from Mokuton to Suiton, Xuanguang and Liuying rowed with their full strength, and Naruto used repeated jets of concentrated water chakra to create propulsion that pushed the boat forward like a kunai cutting through wind. Their small vessel shot across the surface at nearly ten times the speed of the large outbound ship. Within minutes, they overtook the Lightning–Moon coalition vessel and surged toward the distant waters of the Land of Water. Although maintaining that speed consumed a significant amount of chakra from the entire team, Naruto's squad eventually reached a small, uninhabited island positioned along the standard maritime route connecting the coasts of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water.
This island had no human residents, but according to charts referenced in previous chapters and various trading records, it served as a natural resting point for ships traveling between these regions. It contained fresh water, edible wild vegetables, and abundant game, making it a prime location for crews to take breaks. Naruto deduced that the Moon Country shinobi, who likely had not been entrusted with high-level missions, would relax their guard and disembark once they spotted such a convenient stop. Long sea travel was monotonous, and no shinobi would pass up the chance to stretch their legs on a safe island.
Naruto, Yamato, Xuanguang, and Liuying rushed to the island with urgency, for Naruto's plan relied on arriving ahead of the target ship. If his guess was correct, then Raikage A had no intention of attacking Konoha at all, and the apparent troop movements were a distraction, a misdirection, or part of an internal Lightning Country operation. The first thing the four did upon landing was eat and recover their strength. Their earlier propulsion effort had drained both chakra and stamina heavily. Before resting, Naruto had Yamato dismantle and sink the wooden boat eliminating all traces of their arrival.
When their stamina and chakra were almost fully restored, Naruto began outlining the next phase. To ensure absolute success, he planned to set up a large number of traps using knowledge he gained from training with Jiraiya, ANBU-style ambush techniques he had seen from Yamato, and his own battlefield experience. Once preparations were complete, all they needed to do… was wait.
—
30+ advanced chapter on patreon....Visit patreon now to read my exclusive content... posting 5 chapters per day, Our collection is now available on PATREON
visit patreon.com/Mgoldtranslation to view 30+ advanced chapters
Please subscribe guys